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REPORT 

ON THE 

Fish and Game Situation 
in Connecticut 

Made at the request of 

Hon. EVERETT J. LAKE 

Governor of Connecticut 

November 2, 1921 



AUTHOR AND COMPILER 

F. C. WALCOTT 

NORFOLK, CONN. 



REPORT 

ON THE 

Fish and Game Situation 
in Connecticut 

Made at the request of 

Hon. EVERETT J. LAKE 

Governor of Connecticut 

November 2, 1921 



AUTHOR AND COMPILER 

F. C. WALCOTT 

NORFOLK, CONN. 



LIBRARY OF CONG^'^SS 

FteceivEO 

JUN301922 

DOOUMENTii D.\..3JON 



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0^ ^. May 1, 1922. 



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F. C. Walcott, Esq., 

President State Board of Fisheries and Game 

Hartford, Conn. 

My dear Mr. Walcott : — 

I wish to thank you sincerely for the report on the fish 
and game situation in Connecticut which you have pre- 
pared for me. 

I wish that your Commission would have the document 
printed and distributed very widely throughout the state. 

It contains much that is not only interesting but in- 
structive, and I am sure will inspire the people of our 
State to help in the upbuilding of our fish and game pos- 
sibilities. 

With the intelligent aid of tlie people of the State, I am 
sure we can have in Connecticut not only a source of 
much real pleasure, but a very large opportunity to ob- 
tain an increased value of food product from this source. 

I am sure the people of Connecticut will loyally sup- 
port your Commission in its energies. 

Very sincerely yours, 

(Signed) EVERETT J. LAKE, 

Governor. 



INDEX 

Pages 
F. C. WALCOTT, Introduction, Review of present con- 
ditions and recommendations for the future. 5-11 
MAP Showing State Parks and Game Refuges. (facing) 12 
STATISTICAL 13-17 

GAME 

DR. WILLIAM T HORNADAY, Director, New York 
Zoological Society. Which will Connecticut have- 
extermination or preservation? 15-18 

DR. LEONARD C. SANFORD, Member former Fish and 
Game Commission. Connecticut's present re- 
sources in Fish and Game. 18-21 

JOHN B. BURNHAM, President, American Game Pro- 
tective Association. Is free public shooting a pos- 
sibility? 21-23 

LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, Artist and Conservation- 
ist. The preservation of game. 23-25 

THE HONORABLE GEORGE SHIRAS, 3rd, Author 

and Legislator. Sounds optimistic note. 25 

R. P. HOLLAND, Vice-President, American Game Pro- 
tective Association. Compares the activities of 
New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New 
Jersey. 26-31 

JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Chairman, Pennsylvania Fish and 
Game Commission. The game killed by the peo- 
ple of Pennsylvania last year and its value. 31-32 

DONALD MacVICAR, Expert game breeder. Hand- 
rearing of ruffed grouse. 32-37 

FISH 

THE HONORABLE HUGH M. SMITH, Director of 

Fisheries, Washington. The landlocked salmon. 37-38 

DR. CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, Director, New York 
Aquarium. How to improve Connecticut's supply 
of fresh water fish. 38-43 

THE HONORABLE R. B. STOECKEL, The rivers and 

ponds of Connecticut and their treatment. 43-46 

JOHN W. TITCOMB, Expert consulting Fish Culturist. 
Black Bass Culture as Applied to the State of 
Connecticut. 46-51 



Introduction, Review of Present Conditions and 
Recommendations for the Future. 

By Mr. F. C. WALCOTT. 

October 26, 1921. 

You have asked me to ascertain the facts concerning 
the protection and propagation of fish and game in the 
State of Connecticut, in so far as they relate to the existing 
Fish and Game Commission and to suggest ways and 
means of improving present conditions. 

I have the honor to report the results of a preliminary 
investigation. 

It has taken more time than I supposed it would to com- 
plete even a preliminary survey of the Fish and Game 
situation in Connecticut. But the fact that you have re- 
quested such a study has been the cause of gsnuhie re- 
joicing among the Eastern conservationists for it is the 
first time, so far as I can ascertain, that a Governor of any 
state has requested the conservationist to set forth the 
facts and offer suggestions. 

It is on account of your desire to get the facts impartial- 
ly that those of us particularly interested in game and 
fish propagation and protection are anxious to submit a 
report which will sound an alarm and at the same time be 
constructive. 

The first step in the investigation was to compare the 
results obtained by the Connecticut Commission with the 
Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
Commissions. This comparative table and the accompany- 
ing chart compiled from data furnished by the respective 
State Commissions, shows quite clearly the relative im- 
portance of the Connecticut activities in the rearing and 
killing of game in terms of an arbitrary unit of 1,000 of 
population. These figures indicate that Connecticut 
receives and spends less money in proportion to its popula- 
tion than any of her neighboring states, consequently 
raises fewer game birds and at a greater cost per bird. 
The deer have been practically exterminated from the 
State because of a continuous open season passed by the 
legislature five years ago. 

A study of the present game laws of the State show 
that if the 27,000 sportsmen who obtained hunting licenses 
last season had been sufficiently assiduous to kill even half 
as much game as the law allows they would probably have 
exterminated the last remnant of game in the State. 

There is a large amount of literature upon the subject 
of propagation and protection of both fresh and salt 



water fish and I have obtained the opinion of some of 
the leading experts, some of them residents of Connecti- 
cut as to present conditions and future policy. These 
opinions are unanimous on three points. 

1. That there is practically no good fresh water fish- 
ing left. 

2. That the experiments in introducing foreign fish 
have failed. 

3. That the present laws are too liberal if the fish sup- 
ply of the State is to be restored. 

Connecticut is the third most densely populated state 
in the Union containing 278 people per square mile. 
Massachusetts first with 429 per square mile and New 
Jersey second with 419. Connecticut has over three mil- 
lion acres and it is estimated that approximately one- 
third or one million acres are wild or semi-wild land, 
more uncultivated land than she had one hundred years 
ago. The area includes the freshwater ponds of which 
there are 918 with a total surface area of 43,497 acres 
and 7,619 miles of streams and rivers. In addition to 
this Connecticut has 150 miles of coast line and the three 
most important rivers, the Housatonic, Connecticut and 
Thames, run from north to south, furnishing ideal feeding 
lanes or routes for the migratory birds. 

Connecticut's population is concentrated in cities and 
small manufacturing towns to an extent not found in any 
other state in the Union with the possible exception of 
Massachusetts. Hence, the importance of teaching the 
people of Connecticut, young and old, the beauties and 
benefits of the country that they may find the recreations 
they need in park, field and forest and on the water. A 
love of nature insures both health and happiness. It 
teaches people simple living. It has a moral and ethical 
value in the life of a community, state or nation, that is 
incalculable. 

No one questions the enormous value of insectivorous 
birds to agriculture. No one any longer questions the de- 
sirability of enticing the working people afield for their 
holidays. Why cannot Connecticut lead instead of being 
at the tail end of the procession in the movement toward 
beautifying and restocking her waste areas with wild life, 
the balance of which man invariably upsets when left to 
himself to congregate and kill indiscriminately. 

The Fish and Game Commission has been composed of 
one representative from each of the eight counties since 
1913, thus making a Commission of eight. The Com- 



missioners since the adoption of this form of voluntary 
service have been composed of men of the highest char- 
acter, many of them well known through the State as pub- 
lic spirited men of large affairs. Many of these Commis- 
sioners have been willing and eager to give much of their 
time and thought to the fascinating subject with which 
they were entrusted, making it a kind of fad. But the 
prevailing opinion among the sportsmen of the State is 
that the fish and game are disappearing. A comparison 
between Connecticut and her neighboring States in the 
activities of their respective Fish and Game Commissions, 
in so far as it can be made, shows Connecticut at the bot- 
tom of the list and ones first impulse is to direct ones fire 
at the Commission which produced such negative results 
but a close study of the facts discloses weakness which 
no Commission organized as this Commission has been by 
counties could overcome. 

The propagation and protection of non-migratory fish 
and game and the regulation of the killing of such fish and 
game are not county functions. They are State functions 
just as the regulations governing migrating fish and game 
are Federal functions. To decentralize a State's duties 
into Counties is fatal to good results. In the first place 
a large unwieldly commission, no matter how high grade 
its personnel, soon loses interest and ceases to function as 
a commission. It is fortunate if a president or chairman 
can be found who will bear the bulk of the work uncom- 
plainingly with little but complaints for compensation. 
The President of the former Commission has served the 
State with a devotion most unusual. Divided responsibili- 
ty begets inefficiency and the county system divides the 
responsibility for results among eight counties in the case 
of Connecticut. 

The natural outlet for the activities of a Fish and Game 
Commission is with and in State reserves known as game 
sanctuaries but in Connecticut these are under the control 
of a Park Commissioner, an effective one apparently and 
well administered but not closely cooperating with the 
Fish and Game Commission. 

Furthermore a Park Commissioner's duty is to make its 
first selections of land contiguous to large centers of popu- 
lation directly opposed to the first choice of a Fish and 
Game Commission who require low lying isolated tracts 
supplying natural food for birds and mammals and sur- 
rounded by semi-wild land for the game overflow. 

The State Forestry Department upon which the Fish 
and Game Commission must depend for the treatment of 



its reserves or sanctuaries has never closely cooperated 
chiefly because there are no important game sanctuaries 
in the State. It is the interdependence of these three de- 
partments which has lead many of the States to consoli- 
date its natural resources and the administration of them 
under a Conservation Commission, a single headed re- 
sponsible person of recognized ability as an organizer and 
administrator, thus fixing the responsibility and insuring 
complete coordination. The beneficial results obtained 
from this centralized authority in conserving and direct- 
ing the natural resources of a state are almost incredible. 
The results obtained by New York, Massachusetts and 
Louisana under the direction of a conservation commis- 
sioner illustrate what excellent results can be accom- 
plished in a comparatively short time. 

This is an ideal toward which Connecticut should per- 
haps work but it is beyond the province of this report, 
although it is the firm conviction of the writer that the 
sooner there is a complete consolidation of the Forest, 
Park, Fish and Game interests under an expert adminis- 
trator, the sooner the people of Connecticut will realize 
the wastefulness and inefliciency of the old methods and 
secure the benefits, physical and ethical, which the inten- 
sive centralized methods bring. 

This report preliminary in its nature does not attempt 
to criticise former commissioners believing that they have 
been the victims of an antiquated method which could 
never rally to its support either public sentiment or good- 
will. Even vision and enthusiasm vanish when subdivided 
eight times — so for the sake of brevity and directness 
more than for the sake of argument, let us forestall fur- 
ther comment upon the County Commission system and 
determine if possible what can be accomplished in Con- 
necticut and how. Can the State of Connecticut furnish 
its citizens with fair shooting and fishing? What are the 
obstacles which today stand in the way of accomplishing 
this? If fair fishing and hunting can be supplied, is it 
a desirable thing? 

The wide divergence of opinion even among those best 
qualified to advise, the lack of standardized reports and 
carefully itemized accounts which would enable one to 
determine the unit costs of game farming, the total ab- 
sence of any figures on game killed and the fact that no 
scientific estimate or survey of the game and fish of the 
State has ever been made, greatly increases the difificulty 
of placing before Your Excellency enough accurate data 
to give you a clear picture of the existing state of affairs 



in Connecticut. Therefore it seems advisable to make a 
preliminary report forthwith upon such facts as can be 
obtained in order to compare the Connecticut results with 
her neighboring states, Massachusetts, New York, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

For the sake of clarity this report will deal first with 
game birds and mammals and their enemies and second 
with fish both fresh and salt water. 

Broadly speaking, all lovers of nature throughout the 
United States and Canada long to have the forests and 
streams restocked with wild life. Every one subscribes 
to the principles enunciated in the New York State con- 
servationist's creed : "That in a great democracy of free 
peoples the protection of wild life and the preservation 
of all other natural resources, which underlie national 
prosperity and happiness, must depend finally, as does 
the stability of the government itself, upon the support 
and willing service of every citizen." 

In common with probably every one of the sportsmen 
in the United States, we should go a step beyond the pro- 
tection and preservation of wild life. We believe that a 
man is a better man if he longs to go afield with rod and 
gun and dog, and the camera should be included ; and that 
the realization of that longing brings him into close con- 
tact with the best, the most uplifting things in life. This 
is the best form of re-creation. The ultimate goal of 
nearly every true sportsman is to become almost uncon- 
sciously not only a lover of all nature, but an amateur field 
naturalist. 

The real sportsmen of America are our best citizens — 
clean of mind and body, resourceful, strong and coura- 
geous. The sportsmen of the allied countries rid the 
world of imperialistic militarism, and the sportsmen of 
the civilized nations today stand as a solid bulwark against 
all forms of impractical and destructive radicalism. The 
love of nature — of clean, vigorous sport in the open — is 
the antidote to the softening, weakening influences of 
modern civilization. Our battle then is to recover the 
lost heritage which our ancestors wasted and failed to 
protect, and having regained it to protect it for our chil- 
dren and our children's children. 

This is a many sided and a far-reaching question. It 
is nothing short of restoring the balance of nature inter- 
rupted by the growth of large towns and cities. Much 
progress has already been made toward this end, but the 
real progress has been made only in the last generation 
and a half, most of it in the last ten years and by a hand- 



ful of devoted, self-sacrificing men to whom posterity will 
owe much. Reasonable success is now assured ; the wild 
life can and will be saved. The best type of American 
citizen will persist and, with him, man's most wholesome 
companions, animate and inanimate — the dog, the gun 
and the rod. How can this be accomplished? 

A skeleton outline of these principles and practices 
which have thus far stood the test of time and been 
adopted would include the following: 

No public shooting can be maintained without thorough- 
ly protected refuges. 

Paid wardens are the only effective wardens. They 
must be kept in service throughout the year and promoted 
on the merit system to delevop an esprit de corps in the 
state and Federal Government organizations. 

Violations must be punished to develop a respect for 
the law and, to apprehend the violators, a trained, skil- 
ful secret-sei'\ice force is necessary. 

The winter feeding of game and the control of vermin 
are important factors. 

A single commissioner with full authority to take 
charge of all matters concerning the conservation of the 
state's natural resources has proved far better than the 
county system or the committee system, unless the mem- 
bers of such committee grant the broadest powers and 
fullest authority to the chairman of the commitee. 

In a word, the most modern scientific business manage- 
ment is essential to success. A careful study of the best 
methods in use today should be made as the basis of a 
treatise upon the broad subject of game conservation, as 
a handbook for those interested in conservation. Such 
a treatise should include game breeding and feeding, 
forest protection and planting of suitable natural foods, 
the planning, selection and care of refuges, the regulation 
of public shooting near the refuges, the selection and care 
of overflow land or shooting areas near or contiguous to 
refuges. 

The best methods of arousing public interest in con- 
servation and clean sport and the education of school 
children to a better understanding of the virtues of field 
and stream are fundamentals to success. Many of these 
questions are regional and must be treated by zones with 
careful regard to the available amount of cheap, suitable 
land and watered areas for refuges. 

There has been far too much generalizing in the past — 
loose and very general theories have been advanced, with 
little regard for the underlying biological facts and re- 

10 



gional variations. More extiensive research departments 
or laboratories should be maintained by a few of the 
more important game-producing states and by the Federal 
Government under the direction of the bureau of Bio- 
logical Survey to determine the exact biological facts re- 
lating to breeding, feeding and life habits of birds and 
mammals. 

The Biological Survey should be frequently consulted 
to prevent duplication or overlapping, supplemented, of 
course, by the scientific work of the State. There should 
be closer contact and more frequent meetings between 
state and Federal officers. 

In the eastern or more densely populated states there 
is ample opportunity for interstate parks and close inter- 
state cooperation affecting the fish and game supplies for 
such parks, as well as forest control and the control of 
stream pollution. Most of the rivers and large streams 
are interstate. 

The State Board of Education should cooperate in the 
fullest possible way in bringing before the school children 
the aims of the conservationists, the physical, moral and 
ethical values of a day afield. 

There is a loud call to duty. Strong men are needed, 
men of experience and vision to mould public opinion, 
to turn the agitated mind away from city strife and re- 
bellion against life, toward the sunlight. 

It is the workingman and his family who need most the 
call of the wild. When their eyes are opened to the mys- 
terious, mystic powers of nature, their gratitude will be 
expressed in terms of better citizenship, our State, our 
Country better, its people far happier. 



G< 



rame 

Statistical 

Comparative record of fish and game activities, Con- 
necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New 
Jersey. 

New York State Game Farms cost, — Number of pheas- 
ants and pheasant eggs distributed. 

Number of deer reported killed in Connecticut last five 

years. 

Number of ponds and lakes in Connecticut — their acre- 
age, mileage of fresh water streams. 

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New York. New Haven & Hartford- 
South Manchester 



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THE GEORGE F. CRAM CO. 

ENGRAVERS <jb PUBLISHtRS 

CHICAGO 



Steam Railroads 
Central New England Am. Ry. 

...Am. Rii. 
..Am. Ry. 

Elcclric Lines are shown on map thus; .. 

Berkshire Street D 1 New York. New Haven 

Bridgeport & Danbury E8 Hartford (Elee. Liii_ 

Bristol & Plaiiivillc Tram- Norwich & V. estcrly 

^"^J' •;••■••• G4 p|;'°;,lVlindC»nipany. 

Connecticut Company. f/?" ,| ^ 

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iMnbury & Bethel C6 »iy 

, Hariford Si Springfield 12 ^r„,cester Consolidated. 



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U 



QSTATE PARKS 

Nn, Name Loc.ilioii 

1 Sherwood Island Westport 

2 Hurd Park East Hampton ,. . 455 

3 Mt Tom Litchfield, etc 219 

4 Ml Bushnell Washmgton JJ 

5 Selden Neck J",'™?,,- 

6 Haystack NoiioUc 

7 Ivy Mountain Goshen 



H _.. ,— I- / ivy muiiiiusiii — 

1st ATE FORESTS | Shu""""'"".:: po^I^IS' .::::;.:. .« 

; location also) lo West Peak Meriden. etc 181 

!«:> „ 11 Maihamoquet Brook Pom/ret " 

Cornwall Forest 1.Z82 acres ,2 Sap,r„ Run Pomfret " 

Simabury Forest 130 acres ,3 Macedonia Brook . Kent '.'"^ 

?r • . c„,..f ...328 acres 14 Bolton Notch S,°'T. 1 

Union Forest T.land •■ M ddletown ' 

Natchaug Forest '^ »"=» | Whirton Brook :.. . Wallingford etc. . . 

- . ,«o ^^ Buttonball Brook ... Chaphn "5 

IS Kent Falls K"! J., 

19 Hammonasset Beach M?.dif<>" , : fjj 

,_==— 20 Black Pond ^'^ftt.^ 860 

ISRAEL PUTNAM MEMORIAL 21 Devil's Hopyard ^ast H.ddam . . 860 

IbKAE-i- rw ' lift Acres 22 Lake Waramaug Kent . 

fmp Ground «» Acres ^ ^^^^^^^ „^„„,^i„ oanbury 1»0 
Redding 2, Nathaniel Lyon Mem Eastford " 
===== 25 Humaston Brook .... Litchheld 

— — Red Lines show the system of improved Trunk Line High- 

„ ==SL»^p-';°f jf^-'ir-.h^ru^'i^.P-ed sec^on, o. Tnmk 



Meshomasick Forest. .«« acre. 
Mohawk Forest UOO acres 



NEW YORK STATE. 

1914 1915 

Estimated Commercial 

Valuation output Hatch- 
eries and Game Farm ... $215,454.62 $246,722.00 

Pheasants Distributed 2,949.00 6,479 

Pheasants Eggs Distri. 31,096.00 52,015.00 

Number of Farms 1 2 

Cost of Maintenance and 
operation Div. of Fish 
and Game less Game 
Farm Expenses $305,538.59 

Game Farm Maintenance 

& Expenses $7,254.02 $7,307.46 

Total $312,792.61 $364,745.28 



1917 



9,141 
65,049.00 
3 



$357,437.82 $386,170.94 



$32,433.74 
$418,604.68 



1918 1919 

Estimated Commercial 

Valuation Game Farm, 

Pheasants and Eggs $54,708.50 

Pheasants Distributed 11,415 9,206 

Pheasants Eggs Distri. 59,318 55,400 

Number of Farms 3 3 

Cost of Maintenance and 

operation Div. of Fish 

and Game less Game 

Farm Expenses $421,045.72 $484,365.44 

Game Farm Maintenance 

and Expenses $32,209.48 $32,073.14 

Total 453,255.20 $516,441.58 

CONNECTICUT 
Deer Reported Killed. 

1 Year. 2 Years. 
Counties Aug. 1, 1915-1916 1917-191S 

Hartford 279 145 

New Haven 172 66 

New London 220 90 

Fairfield 118 46 

Windham 169 118 

Litchfield 351 174 

Middlesex 156 82 

Tolland 127 67 



1920 



578,272.25 

9,911 
91,735 

3 



$550,893.11 

$35,554.63 

$586,447.74 



2 Years. 
1919-1920 
27 
23 
33 
11 
24 
51 
13 
32 



788 



214 



1,591 
788 
214 FOR FIVE YEARS— DEER 

KILLED 2,593 

2,593 AVERAGEPER ANNUM 518 



Pheasants Distributed. 







Per Annum Eggs 


Per Annum 






distributed 






2 Year 


3 2 Years 




1915-1916 


2622 


1311 5821 


2910 


1917-1918 


2712 


1358 6667 


3333 


1919-1920 


2532 


1266 4320 


2160 






FOR SIX YEARS PHEASANTS 






DISTRIBUTED .... 


7866 






AVERAGE PER ANNUM 
FOR SIX YEARS- 


1311 










EGGS DISTRIBUTED 


16,808 






AVE. PER ANNUM ... 


2,801 




Mallards Distributed. 






Ducks 


Per Annum Eggs 
distributed 


Per Annum 


1915-1916 


766 


383 513 


256 


1917-1918 


857 


428 732 


366 






FOR FOUR YEARS— 


DUCKS 1623 



AVERAGE PER ANNUM .... 405 
FOR FOUR YEARS— EGGS 1245 
AVERAGE PER ANNUM .... 311 

Estimated Areas of Lakes and Ponds in Connecticut 
and total mileage of rivers and streams. 



Fairfield County 

Hartford County 

Litchfield County 

Middlesex County..., 
New Haven County, 
New London County 
Tolland County , 
Windham County 
TOTALS 



Total area 


of lakes 


Areas between Areas over 


& ponds u 


nder 20 A 


20 


& 100 A 




100 Acres 


No. 


Area 


No. 


Area 


No. 


Area 


85 


420 A 


20 


813 A 


10 


2,248 A 


97 


555 A 


25 


1002 A 


13 


5,085 A 


62 


394 A 


24 


868 A 


19 


4,957 A 


51 


340 A 


12 


943 A 


14 


6,007 A 


89 


447 A 


20 


441 A 


15 


2,364 A 


r 107 


571 A 


36 


1024 A 


25 


8,297 A 


50 


289 A 


12 


1932 A 


9 


2,038 A 


94 


451 A 


27 
170 


636 A 


8 
113 


1,375 A 


635 


3,467 A 


7,659 A 


32,371 A 










170 












635 





Total 918 

Total acreage of lakes and ponds 43,497 

Total length of rivers in miles: 

Fairfield County 967 mi. 

Hartford County 1,206 mi. 

Litchfield County 1,631 mi. 

Middlesex County 495 mi. 

New Haven County 973 mi. 

New London County 917 mi. 

Tolland County 694 mi. 

Windham County 736 mi. 

TOTAL '7,619 m i 

Above survey made in 1917 but no census of fish or fish 
food has ever been made. 

14 



Dr. William T. Homaday, Director of the New York 
Zoological Society and the Permanent Wild Life Protec- 
tion Fund, says, with reference to the Connecticut situa- 
tion — 

One point stands out clearly and that is that in view 
of all the circumstances it would be a good thing for some 
one to put out a circular and send it broadcast through- 
out the state of Connecticut, asking people "Which will 
you have, extermination or preservation?" and telling 
them that if they want preservation they have got to do 
some work and sacrifice some money in order to have it. 
They should be told that if they want any game preserved 
for the future in Connecticut, the people of Connecticut 
have got to wake up and conserve it just as the people of 
Pennsylvania have done. 

It might be that an alarm gong beaten loudly and stri- 
dently would so scare the people of Connecticut that 
enough of them would wake up and do something so that 
the situation might be saved. I think the first step is 
the sounding of the alarm and the putting of the crucial 
question. 

Let us look over the cards, as they lie face up on the 
table and see what they reveal. 

First. We see glorious federal and state laws for the 
protection of the insectivorous and non-game birds, well 
observed in most places, but in some places shamefully 
abused by alien shooters. That abuse is because it is 
an utter impossibility for any state to put into the field 
enough wardens to watch every alien who goes out hunt- 
ing with a license in his pocket. 

Second. We now see game bird hunting, reduced, very 
largely, to the hunting of ducks and geese, with a very 
little shooting of six-shore-birds, quail and grouse. 

Third. We see in the near future no wild game re- 
maining save waterfowl, rabbits hares and white-tailed 
deer, and a trace of introduced pheasants. Anyone who 
thinks that quail and grouse of any species whatever can, 
by hand made propagation, keep the sport of shooting 
them on permanent basis, makes a sad mistake. It can 
not be done! 

Fourth. We see that the propagation of pheasants on 
game farms is worth while, though it is not a great factor 
in the production of sport. 

Fifth. As we have all said many times, guns and gun- 
ners are increasing at an enormous rate, while many 
kinds of game are growing more and more scarce ; and 
the open seasons are entirely too long. 

15 



Sixth. We have seen that bag limits are not saving the 
upland game birds, partly because there are ten times 
too many bags! 

Seventh. For land game we see all kinds of natural 
cover and food diminishing through drainage, cultivation, 
timber-cutting and fires. We see the natural enemies 
of the game holding it at great disadvantages; and the 
hard winters steadily are becoming harder and more 
destructive to feathered game. 

Finally. We see that the resident hunting licenses 
fees in the various states, one and all, without a single 
exception, are ridiculously and absurdly below the real 
value of the sweeping wholesale privileges that they 
confer. 

In 1911 we ascertained that 1,486,288 hunting licenses 
were issued by 27 states, out of our total of 48 states. 
Computing by averages the allotment of gunners for the 
21 states then not issuing licenses, the total arrived at 
of sure-and-certain hunters in 1911 was 2,642,194. The 
number of other men hunting without licenses and con- 
trary to law was believed to be sufficient to bring the 
total up to at least 3,000,000. Some competent authori- 
ties long ago estimated the total as high as 5,000,000. 

Since 1911 there have been some very great increases 
in the number of licensed hunters. 

Here is one index of that increase : 
In 1911 New York issued 150.220 hunting licenses. 
In 1915 New York issued 188,216 huntng licenses. 
In 1918 New York issued 230,000 hunting licenses. 

This means an increase of 80,000 since 1911, not count- 
ing the farmers and tenants who now may legally hunt 
game on their own farms without licenses. 

In 1919 Pennsylvania issued 400,000 licenses. Now, 
it is estimated that 200,000 Pennsylvania farmers hunt 
on their own lands without licenses, but accordig to law, 
making a total of 600,000 active hunters in that one state. 

What Can We Do? 

Plant millons of berry, nut and seed bearing bushes, 
trees and plants as special food for wild birds. This will 
go far towards protecting cherries, grapes and other 
fruits from attack by robins and other birds that we can 
not kill. Good species to plant are wild cherry, mulber- 
ry, juniper, mountain ash, hawthorne and juneberry. 

Feed upland game birds and other birds in winter 
about 10,000 times more than ever yet has been done, 
and provide shelters for quail. 

16 



Tie up all roaming doss from May 1 to September 1 
each year, and save the ground-nesting birds from their 
rapacious jaws. One free-hunting hound does more 
harm than 20 sportsmen. 

Kill all hunting or traveling cats. 

Kill weasels, coyotes, great horned owls, barred and 
screech owls. Cooper, sharp-shinned and duck hawks; 
and crows and night herons whenever they start in to 
feed on ducklings. 

Confiscate the gun of every gunner convicted of kill- 
ing game illegally, or of trepassing when hunting. 

States like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, 
permit no alien to own or to use a gun. ("The Penn- 
sylvania alien gun law is constitutional," says the U. S. 
Supreme Court.) 

All gentlemen sportsmen will respect the rights of 
owners who post their lands against hunting; and all 
game-hog trespassers should be compelled to do so, by 
stringent laws and heavy fines. Farmers will not feed 
and protect birds when the sure result is an annual horde 
of insolent and defiant trespassers. In some states the 
acceptance of pheasants from a state game farm auto- 
matically opens that farm to free shooting! This is in- 
tolerable and can not endure. 

If American sportsmen wish that sport in the open 
with the gun and rod shall sanely and sensibly be saved 
from EXTINCTION and established on a continuing 
basis, all they need to do to secure it is to ask for it, in 
clear and decisive tones ! 

It has been proven over and over that it is possible for 
wise and timely laws, adequately enforced, to maintain 
game and sport. More than that, in rare cases they 
have even brought back both from the edge of Oblivion. 
The white-tailed deer and elk are the most responsive 
of all our big game in coming back and re-creating deer- 
hunting. The wild ducks and geese can and do come 
back, when the seed stock is adequate, and the breeding 
and feeding grounds are not destroyed. 

But the upland game birds are diiferent. They are 
mostly non-migratory, winter and summer they are sur- 
rounded by enemies of many kinds, their food supply 
day by day and hour by hour is diminishing, and their 
natural protecting cover is being taken away from them. 
Nothing but quick work and strong and intelligent work 
is going to save any grouse and quail shooting anywhere 
in the United States for the future generations of sports- 
men. 

17 



As instances of what sportsmen can do when they reso- 
lutely make up their minds, take the case of the geese 
and ducks of the United States. The stoppage of the 
sale of game and spring shooting has not only saved the 
sport of duck-shooting, but it has greatly increased it 
over what it was even ten years ago. Today it is the 
universal testimony that the supply of ducks and geese 
has enormously increased — since the migratory bird law 
was enacted. SPORTSMEN'S CLUBS AND THE PRI- 
VATE LAND OWNERS HELP PRESERVE THE REM- 
NANT OF OUR GAME. THE STATE MUST DO THE 
REST. 

In Europe it has been proven over and over that pri- 
vate owners of large hunting grounds have preserved 
sport for centuries. The deer forests and the grouse 
moors prove it. But that game has not been cursed by 
millions of free shooters, each one asserting the rights of 
a sovereign, and sometimes quite able to defy owners 
while trespassing on fenced and posted lands. In "free" 
America our laws against trespass on fenced property 
are a howling farce. They are a disgrace to a civilized 
nation. They represent the fetich of "personal liberty" 
brutally thrusting aside the most fundamental of all 
property rights, the right to enjoy peaceable possession. 

It is high time that every state should protect the 
fenced property of its citizens against armed and dan- 
gerous, and sometimes defiant, game-hunting trespassers. 

I have said all that I have to say. 

Pro. Henry Fairfield Osborn, the author of "The Age of 
Mammals," now solemnly says: "We are now at the 
end of the Age of Mammals !" 

It is my fear that man's rapacity and greed for wild 
life now is so great that nothing will avail to save for the 
next century anything more of it than mere tattered rem- 
nants of a once glorious fauna, — rats, mice and English 
sparrows. 

Dr. Leonard C. Sanford, naturalist and member of the 
Fish and Game Commission of Connecticut for eight 
years, gives the following review of the Connecticut sit- 
uation on game and fish : 

General conditions in Connecticut — small state, thickly 
populated. Large foreign population. Good roads, all 
covers, ponds and streams easily reached by auto. Auto- 
mobiles greatest present menace to all game. Game legis- 
lation against auto in some states. Local methods for 
administrating penalties for game violation wretched. 

18 



County juror system poor. In every possible instance 
bring cases to Federal courts. Particularly urge co- 
operation with E. W. Nelson, head of Federal Migratory 
Bird and Game Organization of Connecticut. 

Deer. I do not believe there are many in the state out- 
side of parks. Advise their extinction by orderly legal 
methods. 

Rabbits. Popular in some secttions. Unpopular in 
others. Recent commission did nothing toward propaga- 
ting them because of divided opinion. 

Upland Game — Partridges, Quail, Woodcock. 

1. Partridges. More abundant in May 1921 than in 
recent years, statement made from observation and re- 
ports from Northern, Central and Eastern part of state. 
I believe the closed season for the years 1919 and 1920 
and a good breeding season in 1920 and 1921 are respon- 
sible. 

Only chance of preservation consists in occasional 
close year or years. Open seasons that are always 
short. Small bag limits. Effective Warden Service. 
Pheasant propagation to relieve ruffed grouse. 
Sanctuaries absolutely important but should be selected 
and guarded carefully. I believe the present warden 
service remarkably good considering lack of funds. Ad- 
vise new commission securing at once from old commis- 
sion a list of wardens that have been found unsuitable. 
Undoubtedly many of these men will attempt to receive 
re-instatement. 

Methods of Pheasant distribution up to July 1, 1921 
useless and objectionable. Advise close cooperation with 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York wardens as 
worst violating in Connecticut is along the state borders. 
Get complete list of suspected violators from old com- 
mission. 

Quail. Negligible. No use in propagation because of 
weather conditions, south shore of Connecticut at present 
about the Northern limit of this bird. 

There are probably from 4,000 to 6,000 in state. A 
large proportion of covers are easily protected and care- 
fully guarded by land owners. Shooting does not ap- 
parently affect numbers. 

Woodcock. Southern Connecticut a famous migratory 
route. This bird should receive every possible protec- 
tion in Connecticut, especially in southern part of state. 
Migration at its height between October 15th and No- 

19 



vember 1st. This is a most important period for warden 
service. Assistant wardens and protectors should be 
used during this time. Cooperation with Federal authori- 
ties in the matter of woodcock violation essential. 
Every possible woodcock violation should be tried in 
Federal courts. 

Ducks. Black duck and Broad bill (greater scaup) 
never more numerous. In greater numbers than between 
1890 and 1900. Wood duck more plentiful than in fifteen 
years. This is of course due to stopping Spring shooting. 
Black ducks have been greatly helped by Mallard farms. 
I believe in propagating Mallards in suitable places be- 
cause of effect on Black duck. 

Sea ducks, especially old squaws have markedly de- 
creased due probably to destruction on northern breed- 
ing grounds. Rail only of consequence on Connecticut 
river marshes. Local birds are shot up in first week of 
season. There is probably little change in numbers in 
recent years. Would cut bag limit to twenty and allow 
one gun but sixty for the season. Rail are migratory- 
birds. Shore birds are practically negligible. Migra- 
tion over mostly before September 1, season opens. 

The Fish situation in the state is utterly bad and here 
the new comission has its greatest opportunity for results. 
Ponds, rivers and streams are all easily accesible in autos. 
All ponds and other rivers are fished out in the early part 
of season. The state is badly polluted, every effort 
sliould be made to get public sentiment in favor of clean 
water. There is only one good hatchery in the state. At 
least six are needed. Game funds cannot be used for 
fish purposes. Any extension of fish propagation will 
have to be paid for from rod license and special appro- 
priation. 

The most important fish to be cultivated in the state 
are native brook trout. Only open streams can be sup- 
plied by commission. Owing to the large number of . 
posted streams in the state a comparatively small supply 
of trout would go a long way. I do not believe in salmon 
propagation. 

White perch would be a most valuable fish to cultivate 
but the supply of all pond fish should be kept up. I be- 
lieve in the general rule of keeping up the native supply. 
Don't put in new fish. Question of raising bait (smelt) 
for larger ponds should be considered. The destruction 
of salt water fry by small meshed nets all along the Con- 
necticut shore of the sound is a most serious menace and 
requires stringent and well enforced laws. In this con- 

20 



nection it seems to me that one of the new commissioners 
should be well up in fish culture. There is no limit to 
the results that might obtain if the public realizes what 
it will enjoy if pollution can be reduced. The shad situa- 
tion has improved much in the past two years owing to 
the legislation of 1919. When measures were taken to 
protect their spawning beds. The lobster situation is 
good. The work of the board has certainly produced re- 
sults. Lobsters have steadily decreased in the past five 
years. There is no Atlantic State where lobsters have 
been more shamefully destroyed than in Connecticut. 
Even Labrador and New Foundland have long closed 
seasons which are strictly enforced. Connecticut sets out 
.lobster pots 365 days in the year. It is a difficult matter 
to enforce the law on short lobsters and female lobsters 
except in the market. 



Mr. John B. Burnham, President of the American Game 
Protective Association, has put the case of free public 
shooting as forcibly as anyone. His statement follows: 

Events in the next few years in my judgment will de- 
termine whether we will continue our present system of 
free shooting in this country or adopt the European plan. 
In other words, whether the man who owns a gun and has 
the price of a box of shells and nothing more will continue 
shooting game or be wiped off the map for all time as a 
sportsman. We have been approaching this crisis threat- 
ening the elimination of free shooting for many years, 
but our innate Amercanism has fought against it. The 
organized sportsmen have originated expedients not pos- 
sible in other countries and so postponed the evil day. 

It is a legislative battle and an educational battle. 
Many people honestly believe that it is useless to try and 
preserve any shooting for the non-land holding sports- 
men. The country is filling up so rapidly, and land in- 
creasing in acreage value so fast, they say, that to meet 
interest charges on the investment game must pay its 
share and be bought the same as any other crop. It is a 
fact, as they point out, that across the water, land dedi- 
cated to game raising produces a much larger harvest 
of game to the square mile than similar acres in this 
country, and they tell us that our only salvation lies in 
copying European methods and laws. 

I do not agree with this, first, because our American 
system, which is the growth of a hundred and fifty years, 
is better than the European system, secondly, because I 

21 



do not think the necessity exists for discarding it. I be- 
lieve it is better for a great many men in all walks of life 
to have moderate opportunity to hunt rather than this 
sport be confined to limited class. From the patriotic view- 
point, field sports furnish a practical antidote to Bolshe- 
vism on the one hand and on the other the experience 
thus gained best fits men for the raw material from which 
armies are made. Can we afford to sacrifice either of 
these national advantages? How would we be better 
off, to have game in greater abundance on smaller areas 
killed by a smaller number of men who had the price to 
pay for the sport even if this game were put on the market 
as a source of food supply? It is utilized as food in any 
case. 

We might consider it if the necessity existed for making 
the change, but I cannot see that there is such a necessity. 
I admit at once the sacred right of property, and I do not 
believe that the land owner should be obliged to let Tom, 
Dick and Harry trample his standing grain in pursuit of 
game, but there is no reason why Tom, Dick and Harry 
cannot have a place to shoot as well as the club man. 
Two thirds of Connecticut is wild land where the shooter 
takes nothing the land owner provided and even in Iowa, 
perhaps the star agricultural state of the Union, there 
are 3,250,000 acres of non-tillable land, which is more 
land than the state of Connecticut. There is still ample 
room to gun provided the shooter is not put off the land. 

So long as the ordinary shooter does not trespass on 
posted land, he has a fundamental right to take this wild 
game wherever he finds it. This country has a different 
law than that of any other country. It is that the wild 
game belongs, not to the land owner, but to the people. 
This is the decision of our highest tribunal, the Supreme 
Court of the United States. I believe in giving men of 
wealth every opportunity to increase the game on their 
land after European methods, but I do not believe in a 
dog in the manger policy which would tie up most of the 
remaining land while only a small portion would in reality 
be used for game propagation. Our laws today recognize 
just this point. They encourage the land owner to grow 
the game that experience has shown can best be increased 
artificially, and they give him the sole right to kill such 
game. As a corollary, should not the public have the 
right to shoot on non-utilized lands when no damage is 
done and the owner does not care? 

A pshycological revolt against game laws and game 
protection. This wave has involved many shooters as 

22 



well as other citizens. It is a part of the general world 
unrest, and also a re-crudescence of our American out- 
lawry against things ''verboten." There are many fac- 
tors entering into it, the high price of ammunition for one 
thing. This has caused cuts in appropriations and all 
kinds of bills to do away with game commissions or hamp- 
er their work. Many states have suffered in many ways. 



Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, artist and one of the fore- 
most advocates of the conservation of wild life, writes in 
the October North American Review as follows: 

It is significant that in countries where game is plenti- 
ful it often largely consists of species introduced from 
other lands, after the indigenous species had become so 
rare as no longer to afford good sport. The Asiatic 
pheasant have practically supplied the field of all Europe 
for two or three centuries, and are fast becoming the 
game-bird par excellence of the Northern United States. 
It is well, for herein lies about the last chance for survival 
of such splendid native species as the ruffed grouse, north- 
ern quail and several kinds of western grouse. 

In such a country as ours, where each of the forty- 
eight States considers itself sovereign within its borders, 
and the game as its possession while present, it has been 
exceedingly difficult to arrive at satisfactory conserva- 
tion laws and impossible to enforce them. 

The Bureau of Biological Survey at Washington, emi- 
nently fitted for the task by virtue of its years of amassing 
detailed information as to the migrations, breeding habits, 
food and general economy of every species of American 
animal, was riven the labor and responsibility of zoning 
the entire country and grouping States with respect to 
open seasons on all species of migratory game, and an 
opportunity of suggesting model laws for these groups of 
States, which should do away in large measure with the 
old border irregularities rising from the operation of va- 
riously different laws on the two sides of State, or even 
county, lines. This, now happily accomplished, plus 
the elimination of spring shooting of migratory game-birds 
and sale of game all over the United States, has already 
worked a marvelous benefaction upon most of migra- 
tory species. 

The people most given to breaking the game-laws are 
aliens from Southern Europe, notably the Italians, who 
are inveterate small-bird hunters whenever they can get 
an opportunity. This habit they bring with them. 

23 



species of Central Europe, and few that travel that 
Italy is a natural bird-trap for all the migratory- 
route get by. Italy has again and again been vain- 
ly appealed to by the other countries of Europe to 
cease the trapping, snaring, shooting, liming and other 
methods of catching the migrating species that for a sea- 
son visit that penisula. There have been for a century 
few edible species that nest and rear their young in Italy 
as compared with Central and Northern Europe. It is 
easy to see the temptation our meadow-larks, robins, cat- 
birds and flickers offer, and how little effort these new 
citizens in the "Land of the Free" exercise to resist it. 

The weakest link in the chain of protection of game and 
other natural resources lies in the power of politics to 
change, at brief intervals, the personnel of those bodies 
of men who, by knowledge and experience, have come to 
be of inestimable value to this necessary work. This 
very year the Governor of a most important State so far 
undervalued the worth of its conservation machinery 
as to remove the most effective Commissioner the State 
has ever had ; a man who, when public funds failed, 
privately supplied the necessary money in large amounts. 
The functions of the Commission were reduced to only 
a small section of the State and greatly curtailed in power 
even there. Over the rest of the State the efficient system 
of game wardens, men especially trained and instructed 
in the all year round care of the game and other wild 
life was abolished and the enforcement of the conserva- 
tion laws was put into the totally inexperienced hands of 
the State constabulary ; the supporting funds were with- 
drawn from the State game farms just as they were pay- 
ing largely, both in material produced and in turning out 
well trained and efficient men capable of carrying on the 
work of wise conservation at a time when public interest 
was at the crest of the wave. It is such lack of apprecia- 
tion and support as this which goes far toward killing in- 
terest, for the time at least, in the nation wide effort to 
preserve for posterity what is left of the once abundant 
and extraordinarily rich native fauna of this continent. 
And the time has come when even a temporary relaxa- 
tion in so important a plan may mean the total loss of all 
that has been done. Some States have no organized 
State service, notably North Carolina, Florida and Missis- 
sippi, and some authorize the issue of almost unlimited 
hunting licenses, allowing the killing of more game than 
actually exists in the State. At large, however, the 
tendency seems to be ever toward the wise and proper 

24 



safe-guarding of the remnant, and the encouragement 
of all game and other innocent wild life to propagate 
and increase. 

Much that was formerly considered "waste land," such 
as fresh water marshes, shallow lakes, river overflows, 
swamp woods and salt marshes with a wilderness of mar- 
ginal cover has been reclaimed for agricultural and other 
uses only to be found entirely linsuited for these purposes 
because of wet sub-soil, tidal flow, salt, sour soil or sterile 
marly components which render it useless for any "practi- 
cal" purpose. Like much of New England, which is 
best suited for (and should have been left) forest land, 
these wild areas really serve their best purpose as refuges 
for the support and propagation of the numerous species 
of wild birds that congregate to use them as nature has 
taught them to do. Even though many such areas now 
exist in a condition more or less sterile for these purposes, 
nearly all could by a little skillful planting and stocking 
be made valuable and attractive gathering places for 
the wild fowl which form the bulk of the migratory game 
of our whole land. 



The Honorable George Shiras, 3rd, author and chief ad- 
vocate of flashlight photography of game, who has long 
since given up the rifle for the more difficult and exciting 
sport of photography, is still one of our foremost authori- 
ties for the protection of wild life and believes in more 
and better shooting. He writes: 

I believe that in any of the eastern states in which 
there is sufficient cover and food, a program that includes 
the following will insure satisfactory results: — 

1. Game refuges — some closed throughout the year 
and others open for public shooting. 

2. Systematic restocking with species adapted to lo- 
cal conditions. 

3. Buck law for antlered game; low bag limits and 
prohibiting the carrying of guns during a closed season. 

4. An efficient warden system, retention based upon 
character of service. 

5. A license system sufficient to maintain a proper 
game commission and which must be composed of high- 
grade men and free from all political influence. 

Under such conditions, there is no eastern state that 
cannot have a supply of game equalling or surpassig 
that of the pioneer days. 

25 



Mr. R. P. Holland, Vice President of the American 
Game Protective Assiociation, reports as follows, with 
reference to the activities of some of Connecticut's neigh- 
boring States, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania. 

New York State operates three game farms and has also 
set aside for recreational purposes, but not for game ex- 
clusively, two large parks known as the Adirondack and 
Catskill Parks. The New York Forest Preserve contains 
approximately 2,000,000 acres. The New York State 
Game Farms distributed to applicants over the state in 
the year 1918, 59,318 pheasant eggs. From the returns 
required by law, it was ascertained that 35 per cent, were 
hatched and the birds reared to the age of liberation. 
This same year the game farms planted 11,415 half-grown 
pheasants. Therefore, in 1918 her State Game Farms 
were responsible for approximately 33,000 pheasants. 

New York State requires that all gunners report the 
game killed each year before they are entitled to a hunt- 
ing license the following season. These reports show that 
in 1919 35,855 pheasants were taken. As the law per- 
mits only cock birds to be killed, it would appear that the 
number of cock birds taken by the gunners exceeded the 
number of hens and cocks produced by the game farms 
the preceding year. I believe this is good proof that 
New York's game farms are fulfilling their mission and 
are stocking the state with pheasants which are repro- 
ducing abundantly in the wild state. 

In 1919 the New York Commission had 1,392 applica- 
tions for eggs and 604 applications for birds. They 
distributed 91,735 eggs and 9,911 birds, a wonderful 
increase over the preceding year. For the fiscal year 
ending June, 1920, it is estimated that the commercial 
value of the eggs and birds distributed from the game 
farms and of adult birds obtained from breeding stock as 
approximately $78,272.25. 

Below is a recapitulation showing how these figures 
are arrived at including the disbursements of game bird 
farms covering the same period : 

DISBURSEMENTS, GAME BIRD FARMS 

Salaries $12,872.50 

Wages, temporary 2.965.31 

Maintenance and operation 19,716.82 

Total $35,554.63 

26 



(This of course, does not include the actual cost of game 
farms in first instance, nor is anything charged for depre- 
ciation.) 

In the year 1918, 8,293 deer were killed in New York 
State. In 1919 when it was legal to shoot does, approxi- 
mately 20,000 animals were taken. 

From the reports made by gunners on the stubs of the 
1920 licenses it was learned that during 1918 the follow- 
ing migratory birds were killed : 

Ducks 109,663 

Greater yellow-legs 3,556 

Lesser yellow-legs 2,848 

Coots 1,974 

Geese 1,380 

Rails 1,382 

Golden plover 1,214 

Black-bellied plover 1,045 

Brant 241 

Gallinule 216 

Sora 82 

Total 123,601 

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, $273,361.90 
net was received by the sale of hunting and trapping 
licenses in New York State. Of this amount $32,000 
was returned for non-resident licenses. Also, $11,372.28 
was paid into the state treasury for non-resident fishing 
licenses. New York appropriates its money from the 
General Fund, and in this period the Commission ex- 
pended for game protection $366,943.57 and for fish cul- 
ture $159,831.82. 

The New York Conservation Commission is encourag- 
ing the establishment of branch game farms by sports- 
men's associations, these farms to hatch the eggs and rear 
the birds only. All eggs are produced at the state in- 
stitutions. One or more of these farms have been proved 
very successful. Mr. Rogers of the State Game Farm 
takes great interest in them and gives them all the help 
and instruction necessary. The Broome County Sports- 
men's Association received 4,540 eggs in 1920 and liber- 
ated 2,901 birds. 

In Pennsylvania the Game Commission does not believe 
it to their advantage to operate a game farm. Instead, 
they purchase both birds and eggs from commercial 
dealers for the stocking of their covers. During 1920 they 

27 



expended $56,259.91 for the purchase of game birds 
and game bird eggs. This is exclusive of expressage 
and feeding until liberation. In 1919 they expended 
$28,115.60 for the same purpose. 

Pennsylvania thoroughly endorses the game sanctuary 
— public shooting ground principle and they feel that 
because of the limited available supply of game for re- 
stocking purposes their efforts in this direction are negli- 
gible, as compared with the results of their work in 
protecting the native wild life. 

They have in operation 27 game refuges and 7 auxiliary 
refuges, all surrounded by public shooting grounds. The 
state still has 10,000,000 acres of uncultivated land 
available for this purpose. 

Twenty-five years ago Pennsylvania was shot out. To- 
day the gunners of that state are furnished with a brand 
of sport that cannot be equaled in many states. Not 
only does it furnish the game, but Pennsylvania has gone 
farther and furnished her citizens with a place to shoot. 
This is the result of her game refuge — public shooting 
ground policy. 

The maximum refuge is approximately 9 miles in cir- 
cumference and they contain from 1,700 to 3,200 acres. 
Around each refuge are set aside from 3,000 to 7,000 acres 
of land that is a public shooting ground on which any 
man may go and shoot, provided he complies with the 
laws of state and nation. 

Pennsylvania's report shows that in 1919 they pur- 
chased 3,961 pheasants and over 30,000 pheasant eggs 
and that approximately 23,000 pheasants were reported 
killed in 1920. Over 40,000 wild fowl, including shore 
birds, were reported killed in 1919. 

The reports of the Pennsylvania conservation commis- 
sion show that 3,300 deer were killed in 1920, 2,913 in 
1919 and 1,754 in 1918. Four hundred thirty two thous- 
and, two hundred thirty eight resident hunting licenses 
and 1,725 non-resident licenses were issued in 1920. 
This is approximately 5 per cent, of the population of 
the state and does not include approximately 600,000 
farmers, who hunt and were not required by law to have 
a license. 

The reports from this state give no statistics as to viola- 
tions of the law or the number of records of convictions. 
All moneys go into the game fund and are expended 
for salaries of game protectors, purchase of game and 
general expenses of the department. In 1920, $308,537.97 
was spent. Pennsylvania has authorized force of eighty 

28 



wardens in addition to her preserve keepers who have 
the same powers. 

Those in charge of the conservation work in this state 
lay much em.phasis on the necessity of caring for the 
birds on the refuges by planting fruit bearing trees and 
shrubs and feeding grain in severe weather. Their re- 
fuge keepers are constantly engaged in trapping vermin 
and the state game department also pa\^s bounties for 
certain predacious animals. 

Massachusetts operated three game farms and also has 
fourteen tracts of land set aside as bird refuges. In 
the year 1919 Massachusetts spent ....23,371.88 in pro- 
pagation of pheasants, quail, mallard, black and wood 
ditcks. Massachusetts also purchased some pheasants 
from commercial dealers. In 1919 this state liberated 
1,481 young and 158 adult pheasants, 156 bob-whites, 
2,218 young and 347 adult mallards, 106 wood ducks 
and 65 black ducks. 

The average price of the limited number of pheasants 
offered for sale by commercial dealers ranges from $3 to 
$5 per bird. Up to this time Massachusetts had been 
unable to produce birds on her state game farms at these 
prices. However, in 1920 they changed their system 
and are now using incubators with a result that last year 
they distributed 3,452 eggs, 3,793 young pheasants and 
108 adult birds. 

In 1920, 1,225 pheasant cocks and 752 pheasant hens 
were reported killed. The game commission, however, 
does not feel that this is accurate and thinks that, owing 
in many instances to a wilful holding back of information, 
not more than 20 per cent, of the birds killed in the 
state yearly have been reported. Their report shows 
that in 1919, 883 deer were killed, of which 359 were 
does. 

The breeding of ducks in Massachusetts has been practi- 
cally abandoned, as they belive it is financially prohibitive 
to produce a mallard sufnciently wild to serve for stock- 
ing purposes. It has also been decided that the breeding 
of other species of waterfowl is unnecessary, as they are 
multiplying rapidly under Federal protection. 

Massachusetts lays great emphasis on the necessity of 
caring for the game in winter. It is believed that the an- 
nual production at the bird farms and fish hatcheries is 
not in proportion to the increased number of sportsmen 
and fishermen who go a-field and that very little or no 
margin is left for the inroads on the stock due to un- 

29 



favorable breeding seasons, forest fires, cutting of covers, 
severe winters and ravages of vermin. 

_ The law enforcement department is divided into twenty- 
eight districts, each in charge of a deputy. In 1920 the 
records show that they tried 288 cases for violation. In 
addition to this, 68 cases were reported and filed. 

Massachusetts issued 96,369 hunting or combination 
licenses at a gross return of $100,590.25. For fishing in 
inland waters 42,959 licenses were issued with returns 
of $23,635.50. For lobster fishing 914 licenses were is- 
sued, which netted the sum of $24,549.50. This gives 
a combined total of 140,242 licenses issued by the Massa- 
chusetts department of fish and game with a net return 
of $125,139.75 in fees. 

Very little of value is to be gained from the New Jersey 
report. They operated one game farm, but their report 
does not tell the number of birds or eggs produced, the 
cost of operation or the amount of game killed. Mr. 
Duncan Dunn, superintendent of the New Jersey State 
Game Farm, reported that he had a very succesful season 
last year at Forked River. Six thousand pheasants, 100 
quail and 75 wild turkeys were raised to maturity. 

New Jersey has a force of twenty-nine fish and game 
wardens. The amount received by the state treasurer 
during the year 1920 from th sale of hunters and anglers 
licenses was $147,925.72. The aggregate of fines col- 
lected from violators of the fish and game laws amounted 
to $15,926.15. During the short open season for killing 
deer in the state, 522 bucks were killed. It is estimated 
that the value of these deer was approximately $50,000. 

One good point in the Jersey law allows the establish- 
ment of branch game farms under the supervision of the 
State Game Farm. A sum not to exceed $2,500 for each 
such farm is authorized for this purpose. The law pro- 
vides that 75 per cent, of the game birds or animals 
raised shall be liberated in the county in which the auxili- 
ary farm is located. The report shows that Burlington 
County has taken advantage of this provision in the law, 
and it is estimated that in 1920 they released birds valued 
at $2,748 and had a breeding stock on hand valued at 
$576. Since this report was printed I am of the opinion 
that another county has established its own branch game 
farm. 

I believe the prosecution of trivial cases is nearly always 
a mistake. I can say always a mistake in the case of the 
first offense. Nothing is to be gained by a record of 
successful prosecutions built upon so-called technical 
cases. 

30 



I do not believe in permitting game wardens to unduly 
exercise their police authority. An over officious game 
protector will do much harm in a community, and a vio- 
lation of the game laws does not call for the drastic 
action necessary in the violation of other criminal codes. 
When in the Federal service I always instructed a new 
deputy to treat men under arrest in a gentlemanly man- 
ner just as long as possible. There are, of course, oc- 
casions when this cannot be done. 

I know that no game protector should go in the field 
without being armed, but I do not believe a side arm 
should be in evidence, and under no consideration should 
an officer enforcing game laws use a revolver except in 
self-defense. 

As a commissioner having charge of the entire work 
in a state, I do not think it policy to trust too much to 
your subordinates. Hold the heads of the departments 
responsible for the faithful performance of their duties, 
but see to it that correspondence intended for the com- 
missioner is taken care of by a secretary who will see to 
it that all complaints are brought to your attention and 
properly investigated. Whole-hearted cooperation should 
be given between state and Federal game departments. 
Each can help the other, and there is no room for jealousy 
in the work. 



Below is a letter received from John M. Phillips, game 
commissioner of Pennsylvania, which gives figures of in- 
terest to every man whether he be a sportsman or not: 

"Enclosed please find a statement covering the kill of 
game and the amount of furs taken in Pennsylvania in the 
season of 1920 as compiled by the Pennsylvania Game 
Com.mission. 1 have gone over this statement and it is 
correct, based upon reports returned by 8 per cent, of the 
licensed hunters. If anything, I think it is below the 
actual kill, as many returns were made from gentle- 
men who did not hunt at all and from others who killed 
a bear or a deer and were proud of their trophies — the 
latter would naturally pay little attention to small game. 
I am positive that the return on rabbits is below the actual 
kill, as we did not take into account those trapped by 
boys under 14 on the farms on which they reside. 

"You will note that $449,490 was received in Pennsyl- 
vania last year from the sale of hunting licenses. The 
total kill of game, conservatively estimated, was worth 
$5,514,164, figured as a meat value of 40 cents a pound. 

31 



The value placed upon the furs taken during the same 
period was $3,000,000. This gives us a total of $8,514,164, 
which is 6 per cent, of $141,902,733. This is the value 
of our breeding stock of game to the commonwealth and 
we still have a substantial reserve in the old Bank of Na- 
ture. 

"Although we do not raise English pheasants on game 
farms you will note that we have been successful to a 
certain extent, as in the season of 1920 we killed 42,0'00 
of these birds. We also killed over half a million grouse, 
which we think too many, and had our bag and daily lim- 
its reduced in accordance with our revised game laws. 

"We still have faith in our game sanctuaries, and this 
year we will have 32 of these miniature Yellowstone 
Parks scattered throughout the state in operation." 

The Board of Game Commissioners of Pennsylvania 
have prepared the following table showing the amount 
of game animals and birds killed in that state. Only 8 
per cent, of the gunners in Pennslyvania returned a report 
to the commission, showing the amount of game they 
killed last season. Taking the reports received from the 
8 per cent., together with the number of licenses issued, 
the figures for the total amount of game killed were ob- 
tained. 

Birds and animals, estimated kill, deer, legal bucks 
3,300; bear, black 420; wild turkeys, 3,000; rabbits, 
4,932,000; snowshoe rabbits, 70,200 ; squirrels, 1,250,000; 
raccoons, 82,200; ruffed grouse, 507,600; ring-necked 
pheasants, 42,000; quail, 79,800; wild geese, 2,640; wild 
ducks, 81,000; blackbirds, 309,600; reedbirds, 65,520; 
yellow-legs, snipe, rail, plover and woodcock, 18, 000. 

This shows 7,427,280 pieces of game killed, or 
13,785,410 pounds of choice meat, using a conservative 
weight for each piece of game. Figuring this meat at 
40 cents a pound gives $5,514,164 as the cash dividend 
returned last year from Pennslyvania's game. 



Mr. Donald McVicar, perhaps the leading authority in 
the country on the raising of game birds, reports the result 
of his experiments in the hand rearing of ruffed grouse 
"Partridges" at Norfolk, Connecticut : 

I enclose my report of experiments carried out at Toby 
on the Childs and Walcott preserve and under my direct 
supervision. I have gone into detail pretty carefully and 
I am now quite convinced from the valuable data obtained 
in these tests that the problem of the ruffed grouse pro- 

32 



pagation by hand is, if not absolutely solved — on the 
direct road to be solved. The further development 
though must be in the hands of thoroughly experienced 
men who have had a wide and long experience in rearing 
game birds. 

Experiment No. 1 carried out in 1916. Seven eggs 
hatched by a game bantam, Free Range Method. 
They were placed in a coop and small runway in the wood 
near entrance gate to Deer Park. After a couple of 
days in confinement I removed the runway. This gave 
the chicks liberty to roam around in search of their natur- 
al food. They kept very busy catching the aphids which 
clung to the undergrowth in quantities. This seemed to 
be their favorite natural food, I supplemented this with 
fine game meal and the yolk of a hard boiled egg 
sprinkled in front of the coop in which the foster-mother 
was still confined. After a day or two of this treat- 
ment, the chicks roamed oft' in search of food often get- 
ting so far that I had to carry one or two back within 
hearing of the foster mother's call. This method induced 
me to give the foster mother free range by letting her out 
of the coop every morning to wander about at will. I had 
to do a good deal of herding on account of the hilly nature 
of the ground and the flighty temper of the foster mother. 
The latter would often dart off up hill towards her coop 
at a rapid pace, occasionally leaving a stray bird which 
I had to locate by his call and carry to the coop. I 
continued the free range method though it involved con- 
tinual vigilance, and an amount of herding of brood dur- 
ing showery weather. 

The foster mother, a Game Bantam was not all an 
ideal of perfection, being wild and excitable, yet the 
brood was doing splendidly. When about a week old 
I lost one of the chicks mysteriously. I suspected a hawk 
or weasel. In a few days I lost another and this time 
was forced to the conclusion that the chipmunk was the 
culprit. While standing perfectly still and close to the 
coop, observing the brood feeding, a chipmunk darted 
out from a juniper bush close by, instantly the foster 
mother sounded the alarm, I also shouted and the offender 
scuttled back to cover after just having missed catching 
a chicken which he viciously struck at. I then moved 
the coop on to more open ground, at same time con- 
tinuously using the free range. 

I lost a third chicken and when about 3 weeks old I 
removed the brood and foster mother close to the Bunga- 
low where I considered they would be safer. At this 

33 



time (3 to 4 weeks old) they began to pick grass seeds 
and wild ripe strawberries. I continued the egg and 
meal supplementary food, and allowed the foster mother 
and brood to roam around the house during the day. At 
night they were lured with feed to their coop and closed 
in. At 5 weeks old thej'' began to tree roost at night. 
There was now 4 birds left of the seven. They were so 
tame that I could handle them at any time. When about 
full grown one flew into the kennel close by and was 
caught by the setters and killed. Early in September 
the three birds that still remained suddenly disappeared 
without any apparent cause. This I expected as I have 
noticed years ago that during that month the broods in 
the wild break up and disseminate over a wide area in 
ones and sometimes twos. About this time the young 
males began to strut and demonstrate their belligerent 
habits which would no doubt be resented by the old cock 
of the harem whose superior fighting experience would 
enable him to drive the youngsters off to look for new 
and unoccupied quarters. The lack of food around the 
native habitat too would be a ruling element as a cause 
of the September distribution. A few days after the dis- 
appearance of the three truants I found one, a female 
dead close by wire fence which she had evidently struck 
with force during a flight across an open stretch. The 
lower mandible was broken and the breast and throat 
lacerated and the wire close to where she lay held the 
feathers and blood. 

Twelve days after the disappearance of the grouse the 
male bird returned to the bungalow alone and still as 
tame as ever. I caught him and put him in a pen. 

This experiment at Toby proved that the free range 
method of rearing grouse could be successfully carried 
out under certain circumstances. 

The necessary conditions are as follows. A fenced in 
area within the bounds of which is found the variety of 
brush timber such as grey birch, and fern etc., similar to 
that which is found in the natural haunts of the wild 
stock, where the insect life previously referred to is 
abundant the hand feeding would be much reduced, at 
the same time the broods would thrive all the better on 
their insect ration. 

The objection to this method is the necessity for an at- 
tendant to be always on the spot to herd the broods into 
their coops when a storm is approaching. Generally the 
foster mother will do this if she is the right sort. Occa- 
sionally however, one may lag till the last moment and 

34 



get caught in the storm, to the detriment of the- whole 
brood. If this brood had been in a vermin proof area 
and penned up before the September migration, I believe 
I would have successfully reared the entire lot of seven. 
While I can recommend this system as an excellent one. 
our second experiment worked out on a larger scale in 
1917 prompts me to recommend the second method as 
the best of the two. 

Three clutches were put down under bantams. Thirty 
eight young grouse were hatched out and placed in coops, 
50 yards apart on a hill side not far from the bungalow 
in which I lived. The coops were placed among birches, 
ferns, wild grasses, and odd huckleberry bushes. In 
fact ideal ruffed grouse natural habitat. The weather 
was bad for sometime at first, in consequence pf which 
there was a considerable decrease in the quantities of the 
flies. Therefore I had to depend on the meal and egg 
mixture as a staple food, varied with the addition of ant's 
eggs, and cottage cheese. The broods were liberated 
when a couple of days old from the coop runways, but the 
hens or foster mothers were kept in coops. 

The lot did fine till about three weeks old notwithstand- 
ing the fact that the weather was very bad most of the 
time. 

I was laid up for several days and had to send a young 
man to do the feeding. On my return to duty I found a 
lot of the chicks suffering from bowel trouble from which 
many died. This I attributed to over feeding. I found 
traces of food where coops had stood. This of course 
was stale and no doubt in my mind the cause of the trouble 
which I had great difficulty in checking. When a few 
days old the broods rambled a long way from the coops. 
They kept me busy herding them back to their several 
coops. Generally they would find their own way back. 
Odd birds though would go too far down hill. These I 
carried back. Many times I would miss several at feeding 
time, but after a wide search would come on them busy 
chasing the insects. For this system of rearing I recom- 
mend level ground. Hill sides are apt to entice the young 
chicks to roam too far from the coops. 

The ultimate result of the second experiment was ex- 
tremely disappointnig to me inasmuch as the aggregate 
raised was only 8 birds. Yet I consider the results as 
due to accidents which are under normal conditions 
avoidable. 

A special pen about % of an acre covered over with 
wire netting was constructed on natural ground, and into 
this eight birds were placed. 

35 



This is considered the most important experiment of the 
three and certainly the one above all others to be adopted 
in the propagation of grouse by hand rearing. 

In the lot of eight, there were three males and five fe- 
males, one of the females got killed in the pen by striking 
the wire when in rapid flight, and another female got 
through a hole in the roof of pen and escaped and was 
most likely taken by a hawk as she disappeared myster- 
iously. 

The stock was now reduced to three males and three 
females. One male began strutting in September and 
dominated the other two so savagely that they were 
constantly driven to remote parts of the pen by the bellig- 
erent chief. When feeding in the mornings the two per- 
secuted males would approach the other group to be in- 
stantly chased off by the top bird and in consequence had 
to be fed separately. All were perfectly tame, would 
feed out of my hand and scramble at times on to my arms. 
The king of the harem was very fond of a scrap and when 
walking through the pen he would suddenly appear and 
attack my boot and then when I stooped to guard him 
oft' he would strike out viciously at my fist. Towards 
spring time this bird of strife killed the other males. 
The three hens each nested and laid 31 eggs out of which 
they hatched 27 chicks. Thus once and for all proving 
that the ruffed grouse is absolutely polygamous and also 
that when provided with properly constructed pens on 
ground chosen as nearly as possible to represent the fea- 
tures of their natural haunts they will nest and hatch out 
their broods. 

From the results of this experiment, I am now con- 
vinced that ruffed grouse can be as successfully reared by 
hand as any other game. My connection with the test 
ended before the birds nested, and consequently I was 
unable to devote any time to the special study of diet 
which I had intended doing. 

As far as I have gone I believe I have already solved 
the problem of suitable food, at the same time I have a 
special article of diet already tested out with many va- 
rieties of game birds and foreign stock which I would 
next try out if an opportunity arises. If a success with 
grouse its use would simplify the dietary problem, which 
now is the only part of the scheme that requires further 
study. I do not consider the feeding in the slightest de- 
gree an obstacle to success. Allowing sufficient range for 
the broods to pick up their natural food, supplementing 

36 



this with some of the prepared game foods will insure 
success at the hands of an intelligent attendant who has 
the faculty of close observation and enthusiasm in his 
make up. In time, the correct supplementary food will be 
discovered, so that as a perfect substitute it can be used 
in times when weather conditions may cause a scarcity 
of the natural food of the young grouse. 

Young stock intended for breeding in pens should be 
pinioned about twenty-four hours after hatching. 

This operation incurs no risk when performed by ex- 
perienced hands. It eliminates any danger of birds be- 
ing hurt during flight. Full winged grouse take sudden 
flights in pen in play, and at great speed, where-by they 
are often injured by striking the wire. 



Fish 



The Honorable Hugh M. Smith, Commissioner of Fish- 
eries, Department of Commerce, writes as follows: 
"My dear Mr. Walcott: 

Your letter was duly received and has been having my 
careful attention. I hope it may be possible for you to 
come to Washington in order to talk over Connecticut 
fishery matters. Meanwhile, I am glad to give you my 
views on several of the points raised in your letter. 

In my opinion it would be a mistaken policy and a waste 
of money, time, and effort to attempt to establish in Con- 
necticut waters the chinook or other Pacific salmons. The 
Connecticut River is no longer suitable for any migratory 
fish because of the large amount of tradewaste discharged 
into it and because of barriers below the sections to which 
such fish would have to go for spawning purposes. For 
a number of years various eastern states have developed 
a kind of mania for Pacific salmons for both the interior 
and costal waters, when there was not the slightest rea- 
son to expect that such fishes could be established. Par- 
ticularly objectionable has been the planting of chinook 
salmon in inland lakes where the salmon have quickly 
cleaned out the native trout and other fishes and have 
then promptly disappeared from the scene, because, as it 

37 



is well known, it is impossible for a strictly migratory fish 
of this kind, which must pass a large part of its life in the 
sea, to become acclimatized in small landlocked waters. 

In my opinion similar attempts to acclimatize in small 
lakes and ponds of Connecticut the landlocked salmon of 
Maine must prove unsuccessful. This species requires 
large lakes well stocked with its natural food, the smelt, 
and it can never become an important resource in Con- 
necticut. 

After a very careful review of the situation as it now 
exists in Connecticut, it is believed that the most profit- 
able kind of interior fish culture for the state to undertake 
will be addressed to the brook or speckled trout, the 
rainbow trout, and the smallmouth black bass. 

A small hatchery located on the Connecticut coast 
could handle such important marine species as winter 
flounder, tautog, sea bass, and the lobster. The flatfish 
is especially valuable as a commercial food fish of grow- 
ing importance. It can be readily propagated and the 
plants from the hatchery will benefit the waters in which 
deposited, because this species has no marked wandering 
instinct. As you know, the winter flounder has a large 
mouth and is extensively caught by anglers. 

Dr. Charles H. Townsend of the New York Aquarium 
can give you valuable advice as can also Dr. G. C. Embody 
of Cornell University. I take the liberty of calling to 
your especial attention Mr. John W. Titcomb, now of 379 
Quail Street, Albany, New York, who has had a very wide 
experience in practical fish culture and is now a consult- 
ing fish culturist. He was for a number of years in charge 
of this fish-cultural branch of the United States Bureau 
of Fisheries and until recently held the position of State 
Fish Culturist of New York. It is believed that Mr. Tit- 
comb can give you very great assistance in placing your 
fish-cultural service on a rational basis." 



Dr. Charles H. Townsend, Director of the New York 
Aquarium, reports as follows: 

Fish culture is on a fairly good basis now. It is quite 
possible to hatch and rear fishes in large numbers, but 
laws don't protect very thoroughly, pollution of waters is 
widespread and anglers are abroad in legions. 

Stocking fresh waters is not difficult but getting satis- 
factory results is quite another matter, some lakes and 
streams have conditions that are naturally favorable, 
while others lack the natural food supplies that are neces- 



sary for the growth and abundance of food fishes. Plant- 
ing of fry has been done in most states promiscuously and 
unintelligently, the condition not being considered at all. 
Fishes cannot increase in waters of limited area, beyond 
their food supplying capacity. It is questionable whether 
waters in thickly populated states can, with all the sci- 
ence available, be made to yield satisfactory results. The 
public can take out fishes faster than they can be matured. 
It is easy to put them in. 

There are protected reservoirs all over the country, 
where state commissions get young stock in abundance 
for distribution, but the public could soon clean them 
out if allowed to do so. 

Good angling is desirable and wholesome for the 
people. 

We should know more about the character of waters to 
be stocked and it need not take long to make the investi- 
gations. 

The possibilities of small fish pond as sources of food 
for the people have received little consideration in this 
country and the actual breeding and maturing of fishes 
in such ponds is an art which we have yet to Dut in prac- 
tice. 

While certain foreign countries have long profited by 
the art of private fish culture, and have furnished notable 
examples, our own facilities for this industry have been 
neglected. It is probable that our resources in this re- 
spect are greater than those of other countries, as the 
United States already lays claim to the most extensive 
fish cultural operations carried on in the world, and no- 
where is there so large a body of professional fish cultur- 
ists as that connected with our national and state fishery 
commissions. 

In these times when the value of running streams for 
water power is being widely considered, the possessors 
of brooks, springs and small lakes should be awakened to 
the value of their home resources for water farming. 

It is gratifying to note that trout culture, in the hands 
of the private citizen, is making some progress in Mas- 
sachusetts and adjacent states, and the advertisements of 
successful trout raisers may to-day be found in American 
journals devoted to fish and game. Trout culture, is, 
however, a branch of the work which requires special 
conditions, such as purity of water, comparatively low 
temperature, the construction of buildings and artificial 
fertilization. The possibilities for the private or com- 
mercial culture of many other kinds of fishes, which are 

39 



more widely distributed than the trouts and can be culti- 
vated by simpler methods, should receive serious con- 
sideration. 

In some of the countries of central Europe the cultiva- 
tion of fishes in private waters has been going on for cen- 
turies. In Austria and Germany fish farming, as it is of- 
ten called, is a common industry. While it is much prac- 
ticed by small land owners, there are many large estates 
which maintain hundreds of ponds in active cultivation. 
Much of this private fish culture is based on the various 
forms of the carp, but other European fishes are also 
cultivated for sale, such as the tench, ide, ruff, bream, 
perch and pike. Some European fish culturists are now 
raising American basses and perches. There are many 
villages in Austria where fish ponds are maintained at 
the expense of the community. In view of these facts, it 
is remarkable that immigrants from Europe have neglect- 
ed to practice their ancient art of pond culture in this 
country. :, , 

Aside from the commercial trout raising, which is prac- 
ticed to a limted extent, we have nothng of such pond cul- 
ture in America. Our numerous fish hatcheries maintained 
under the direction of state commissions are devoted al- 
most entirely to the stocking of public waters with young 
fishes. Very little of the product is reared to maturity 
and none is sent to market direct. If our fish culturists 
should be commanded to bring their annual yield of fry 
to maturity and deliver it to the market, they would be at 
a loss how to proceed. We are really not fish raisers, but 
producers of fry. At that stage our efforts cease. The 
rest is left to nature, and negligently cast into waters 
that we imperfectly protect and utterly neglect to keep 
pure. While our achievements in public fish hatching are 
notable, private fish culture has made no headway. A 
few of our state commissioners are making efforts in pond 
culture for the benefit of farming communities, notably 
in Kansas, and it will be interesting to observe what prog- 
ress can be made. Perhaps the vast natural yeld from 
our coast, lake and river fisheries is responsible for the 
lack of private effort. 

Our fish supply, in general, is large and well distri- 
buted, but we could consume a much greater supply, es- 
pecially in view of the fact that in some sections the nat- 
ural supply is being depleted by over fishing and pollution 
of waters. There are many sections of the country inade- 
quately supplied with fish food which could be produced 

40 



locall}^ by pond cultivation and such supplies would find 
convenient home markets. 

It is possible for the private citizen to obtain pond fishes 
for breeding purposes, but he needs assistance and direc- 
tion. Object lessons on approved methods of fish culture 
could be obtained by visiting public hatcheries, but this 
is not likely to be undertaken. It would be advantageous 
to the country if state fish commissions generally could 
supply the coarser fishes for cultivation in private waters 
and furnish the public free information as to the methods 
to be followed. 

State fish commissions should not only prepare inexpen- 
sive pamphlets on the cultivation of common fishes, but 
see that they reach many communities and be announced 
and reviewed by the rural press everywhere. Model 
ponds distributed about the state for demonstrative work 
would, of course, be educational, like agricultural col- 
leges and state experiment farms. I am not prepared to 
set forth the best means of doing this work, perhaps no 
two states would undertake it the same way. 

I am convinced that some of the energy put into the 
production of fry is misdirected. The output is amazing; 
six billions last year by the National Bureau and perhaps 
as much more by the states. Practically all of it is hur- 
ried into the nearest river and none of it raised. We are 
all going about the same thing and have settled into the 
rut of fish hatching in hatchery buildings. No one is doing 
anything new except as connected with the competition 
for increased output. 

Having practiced these wholesale methods for two or 
three decades, let us now consider whether we might not 
profit by a little less fish hatching and a little more fish 
raising. Does salvation lie only in a multiplicity of ex- 
pensive federal and state hatcheries? If our fishery es- 
tablishments were equipped to raise and market one per 
cent of the fry now being hatched and liberated, might 
not the quanity of food thus produced exceed that which 
eventually reaches market by the way of public waters? 
Let us simplify our art and teach it to the people, for they 
can surely help in the production of fish food. 

On Stream Pollution. 

We have not only disregarded our fresh waters in most 
of these respects, but we have carelessly permitted them 
to become polluted. The pollution of public waters is 
our most common act and our most uncivilized practice. 

41 



The casting of refuse in a stream results only in trans- 
ferring it from one neighborhood to another. 

The great evil with which practical fish culture in 
America has to contend at the present time is the contam- 
ination of public waters by sewage and the refuse of man- 
ufacturies. Although the propagation of fishes by artific- 
al means has, in this country, reached a degree of efficien- 
cy unequalled in other countries, the preservation of 
streams in conditions desirable for maintenance of fish 
life has been singularly neglected. 

In a majority of those States which possess fishery re- 
sources there exists more or less effective restrictions upon 
fishing and the operation of fishery industries, but it is 
seldom that enactments against the depositing of waste 
matter in the waters are enforced. 

All of our fish commissioners of experience, both na- 
tional and state, are agreed that the decrease in the sup- 
ply of food fishes is traceable more to pollution of waters 
than to any other cause, and stream pollution is going on 
at a rate porportionate to the increase in population and 
the development of manufacturing industries. The ef- 
fects of pollution are most serious in the more densely 
populated states. It begins almost at the source of streams 
and extends to the very mouths of the largest rivers. 

The effects of pollution of the harbor of New York are 
liable to become very serious, as the amount of sewage is 
increasing. There are bottom deposits of sewage in many 
parts of the harbor that are several feet in thickness. 
Many forms of marine life which assist in the disposal of 
organic matter in the harbor must decrease in numbers, 
and disappear as the volume of sewage increases, while 
the shad, oyster, and other fisheries are already suffering 
from its effects. 

The Blackstone is the most polluted river in New Eng- 
land; its name has become synonymous with filth. The 
headwaters of a river system are usually free from pollu- 
tion but in this case the opposite is true. The sewage 
from the city of Worcester befouls the river at its source, 
and thereafter through its whole extent the Blackstone 
is a damaged resource to the country. Such is the ac- 
cumulation of filth in the mill ponds that from some of 
those near Worcester there arise odors that are detri- 
mental to comfort and realty, if not health. The use of 
its water in boilers has long been abandoned and it cannot 
be used in the manufacture of light colored clothes. 

There is no legal justification for the pollution of water, 
yet so universal is the practice that it has come to receive 

42 



moral justification at the hands of society, and meets no 
general condemnation except where it goes beyond the 
bounds of human endurance. A few states in the Union 
have recognized the damage arising from water pollution 
and have made intelligent investigations for the purpose 
of correcting the evils. 

It is claimed that more than 130,000 persons visit the 
State of Maine every year on vacation, to fish or hunt. 
These summer visitors bring into Maine from six to twelve 
millions of dollars a year, or more than thirty per cent of 
the total value of all farm crops raised in Maine. 

Many of the northern states, notably Michigan, are 
visited in summer by legions of tourists, largely on ac- 
count of the good angling to be had in their waters, and 
the lakes of all America have become summer resorts for 
an important proportion of the people. 



The Honorable R. B. Stoeckel of Norfolk, an ardent 
fisherman, who has given much study to the protection 
and propagation of fish: who knows intimately the fish 
situation in Connecticut, makes the followng interesting 
observations and recommendations: 



For The River Systems of The Connecticut River. 
Native Trout. 

A hatchery to be centrally located, probably some- 
where in the Farmington Valley to supply all the head 
waters whch are yet suitable for native trout. 

Each system of head water streams to have its best 
tributary spring brook segregated as a breeding brook, 
to be under State control during its whole length ; all 
stocking to be done for the system in that brook and the 
fish when large enough will stock the main system. No 
fishing to be allowed on the breeding brook and as a mat- 
ter of protection it must be chocked with brush and rub- 
bish so that fishing is impossible. 

A concrete illustration for your own purposes is sup- 
plied by an example of the system in Norfolk. If the Rob- 
bins Brook, which is a spring brook and which breeds 
about all the trout for the Black Berry system should be 
chocked with brush its whole length, stocked and pro- 
tected all the streams in the Black Berry system would 
furnish good fishing for large trout in the Course of three 
years. 

43 



Trout Other Than Natives. 

I do not believe in any kind of foreign trout such as 
brown or rainbow. They are failures in our streams and 
there is no reason why the native trout can not be brought 
back by stocking. 

Stocking. 

Stocking must be done aggressively by the State and 
fish placed in localities selected by the State under the 
direction of the Commission. 

Farmington and Housatonic Rivers. 

In the lower reaches of the Farmington and through 
the whole length of the Housatonic river intensive breed- 
ing of bass and perch would bring rapid results. There 
is at present a bass hatchery at Lake Waramaug. 

It is possible for the State to maintain a number of 
hatcheries for what one or two have been costing .There 
is no reason why the principal of rotation can not be car- 
ried through one hatchery so as to keep it running all the 
time providing there are enough breeding ponds. Some 
of our best fish spawn in the spring, while trout spawn 
in October and November etc. The same crew at the 
same hatchery might be working all the time. 

The Connecticut River. 

Shad fishing could be brought back in the Connecticut 
river by an adequate hatchery at or near Windsor and by 
protection both by new laws and by enforcement during 
the first five years. After that there would be so many 
shad that you could continue to waste them for twenty 
years. 

The Connecticut river throughout its length, in Con- 
necticut is suitable for pickerel, pike and bass. It is no 
longer a possible salmon river except by going to a great 
expense for fish-ways. 

For the River Systems East of the Connecticut River. 

The territory east of the Connecticut river is similar to 
that on the west and the problem is the same. 

A hatchery to be placed in a suitable portion of either 
Windham or Tolland Counties for a similar distribution 
of fish. Trout at the head waters, perch and bass at the 
flat portions of the big streams. 

In a general way this covers stocking of the interior 
running waters. 

44 



Lakes. 

Each lake should be specially studied. The old 
fashioned fishing must be brought back in all the mud 
bottom ponds, sloughs and creeks. That is, they must be 
heavily stocked with pickerel and perch. 

To return to a local example. Any of- the ponds in 
Norfolk could be brought back fo the conditions of twen- 
ty years ago by such methods and absolute protection for 
two years (viz Goshen pond, where it is now possible to 
catch a hundred pickerel any time.) There are certain 
of the larger and clearer ponds with which experiments 
might be made. For instance Twin Lakes typical of sev- 
eral ponds in the State, raises many great lake white fish. 
The pond is literally alive with them but as they are a 
deep water fish and because it is against the law to use a 
gill net only a few are caught and those illegally. 

After the experience of the past two years and after 
a study of the situation I do not believe in the Chinook 
salmon unless he is to be raised and fished for with nets 
He is too hard to catch in the lakes to be a good sporting 
fish or much of a factor as a food supply. I can give 
data and details regarding Chinook fishing in Massachu- 
setts, New York and Connecticut which will demonstrate 
this point. 

Therefore it is a fair conclusion that most of the lakes 
ought to be stocked with the indigenous fishes and that 
those ought to be increased by propagation and stocking 
to a point where any farmer's boy can get a mess in season. 

There are fifty miles of stream in each, the Housatonic 
and Farmington which raise only a few insignificent fish 
and which might be made to raise tons of food by inten- 
sive work. All this means money. Money can be raised 
only by educating the public to the necessity of a fish 
license. A fish license at from $3 to $5 would raise ample 
money to support all necessary hatcheries. 

Pollution. 

The whole subject of pollution of streams is, to my mind, 
for the present immaterial except so far as it relates to the 
shell fish proposition. 

The Naugatuck river, from Torrington down is the only 
river in the State of which I personally know which is so 
polluted that it will not raise fish. The other rivers are 
not bad and the lakes throughout are comparatively 
clean and healthful. 

What the State now possesses in the line of hatcheries 
and their output is absolutely inadequate; good enough 

45 



as far as they go ; but not ample enough ; new work along 
these lines is needed. It will be entirely possible if you 
desire to have it done, to get together groups of men who 
would personally finance the hatching of fish for sale to 
the State or who would finance the building of a hatchery 
as a private corporation. All these things can be worked 
out. What is needed is someone with personality, ex- 
perience and energy to get into it and father the project. 



A Report By John W. Titcomb, An Expert Consulting 

Fish Culturist, on "Black Bass Culture, as 

Applied to the State of Connecticut." 

Nearly all species of fishes distributed by the Board of 
Fisheries and Game are susceptible of propagation by arti- 
ficial methods and can be produced in numbers limited 
only by the funds available for fish cultural operations. 
Both the largemouth and smallmouth black basses and 
allied species constitute a partial exception, however, 
since their eggs cannot be artificially manipulated. For 
supplies of such fishes, it is customary in most states 
where there is a demand for them, to depend upon the 
natural reproduction of brood fishes held in ponds pre- 
pared for the purpose. 

A series of such ponds usually range in area from one- 
fourth to one acre, the shape and size of each being dic- 
tated by economy in construction. They are so arranged 
that it is possible to have an independent water supply 
and drainage. Thus the removal of the fish is facilitated 
and an abundance and variety of aquatic vegetation 
which supports the minute animal life upon which the 
little basses subsist, as well as performing other important 
functions, is regulated. 

The cultivation of these fishes, therefore, usually con- 
sists in providing a series of artificial ponds which shall 
give to the maximum number of breeding fish and their 
young all the essential conditions of a natural environ- 
ment, while at the same time protecting them as far as 
possible from their enemies. 

The expense involved in the establishment of a well 
equipped pond culture station varies all the way from 
$50,000.00 to $100,000.00. 

At most places where pond cultural operations are con- 
ducted, it is customary to depend upon some adjacent 

46 



public fishing water, as a source of supply for brood fish, 
the bass being caught as they are enroute to their natural 
spawning grounds. 

Unless there are unusually favorable facilities for keep- 
ing the parent fish in brood ponds, it is customary to re- 
lease them, after the spawning function, in the larger 
waters of their origin. 

In other words, several hundred-brood bass are removed 
from a large body of water in order to get their progeny 
under control. The progeny is then distributed in small 
allotments to many waters. 

During the early stages of their existence, young bass 
in breeding ponds are exposed to dangers of many kinds, 
just as they are in the larger waters of their natural 
habitat, although not in the same magnitude. Snakes, 
frogs, turtles, various water insects, fish-eating birds and 
mammals, all are destructive to the fry, while the young 
of the same school prey upon the weaker ones. The 
natural spawning period extends over six or eight weeks 
and the earlier broods of fry prey upon their younger 
brethren. The losses from cannibalism among the little 
basses are undoubtedly greater in the confines of artifi- 
cial breeding ponds than among the little basses hatched 
in the larger waters. 

The degree of success attained both in natural waters 
and in artificial ponds varies with the season and is 
governed largely by the state of the weather and other 
natural conditions beyond the control of the Commission. 
Located, as they are, along the shoal margins of the 
ponds, the nests receive the full effect of atmospheric 
changes. A sudden fall in temperature will often cause 
the parents to desert their nests, and as the eggs and fry 
are extremely sensitive, they are frequently killed or 
their development injuriously retarded by the cold. 

Another unfavorable feature resulting from the location 
of the nests in shallow water is that it subjects them to 
the full force of surface drainage and washings, follow- 
ing heavy rains. Roily water is extremely injurious to 
the ova and young of the black bass, and heavy rains and 
sudden temperature changes are conditions which must be 
expected during the season of the year when these fishes 
spawn. In the breeding ponds efforts are made to regu- 
late these conditions, but the results of pond cultural 
operations are hazardous and uncertain in the extreme. 
One year a station may have a good output, and the next 
year, under apparently similiar conditions, very few 
young fish are produced. 

47 



The following resolution was adopted by the American 
Fisheries Society at its Fifty-first Annual Meeting at 
Allentown, Pennsylvania, September, 1921. 

Whereas, It is well recognized by fish-culturists that the artificial 
propagation of both large and small mouth bass is impractical upon 
the large scale practiced in the propagation of other food and game 
fishes, and that it is well recognized that increase of these species 
by reproduction under natural conditions is ordinarily more than 
sufficient to maintain nature's balance in waters inhabited by 
these species, and that the removal of parent fish from their nests 
results in the loss of from 500 to 25,000 helpless fry, 

Resolved, that under the intensive angling of the present day, 
supplemented by the many new and alluring devices cast at the 
quarry, the conservation of these two important game fishes is neces- 
sarily dependent upon the proper protection of the parent fish during 
the entire period that they are spawning and caring for their young, 
supplemented by due precaution to maintain in all bass waters an 
abundance of bass food. 

For the foregoing reasons the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 
as well as State Fisheries Commissions engaged in the 
propagation of the basses frankly state that "only suffi- 
cient numbers of bass for a brood stock will be furnished," 
or words to that effect. 

A brood stock usually means from one to three cans of 
little bass from one-half inch to three inches in length, 
the number to a can varying from 250 to 1,000, it being 
impossible to carry more than one-fourth as many of the 
larger fingerlings as of the one-half inch fry. The appli- 
cant who has been accustomed to receive pike perch or 
yellow perch in million lots, or some species of trout in 
lots of several thousands, is naturally disappointed. 

The introduction of this small amount of fish to waters 
of such large range as the basses require, v/ill show results 
in waters not already inhabited by bass, and it is the pro- 
per method of stocking new waters. Their introduction 
into waters already inhabited by the same species is a 
mere bagatelle as compared with what nature will ac- 
complish if the bass already there are permitted to spawn 
unmolested and protect their nests until the fry have left 
them. 

It is well known to anglers that the male bass, both 
largemouth and smallmouth, protect the nest while the 
eggs are incubating and for a short period after the fry 
have hatched, after which time the young scatter to forage 
for themselves. While protecting its nest, the bass re- 
sents any intrusion and will seize almost anything dropped 
upon the nest. He will take even an unbaited hook 
dragged over it. The capture of these guardians of the 
eggs and very young fry is easy and requires no skill. 

48 



But it is a conservative statement to say that for every 
adult bass removed from the nest, there is a correspond- 
ing destruction of from 500 to 25,000 eggs or fry, the 
amount from each nest exceeding the average number 
of little bass supplied by fishery officials on each appli- 
cation for stocking purposes. 

In normal seasons the basses have finished spawning in 
most Connecticut waters on or before July first. During 
a very late spring the spawning season in cold water 
lakes may extend well past the middle of July. 

If the nesting bass are protected until the first of July, 
(as provided by the statutory close season) it is believed 
that in waters suitable for them they will be able to main- 
tain themselves by natural reproduction to the limit of the 
natural food supply. 

However, there may be occasions when the angler will 
have an opportunity, in open season, to exercise self- 
restraint — by refraining from taking father bass while 
he is attempting to guard his nest or young brood. 

Both of the basses (largemouth and smallmouth) are 
non-indigenous fishes which were first introduced to Con- 
necticut waters about fifty years ago. They are naturally 
warm-water fishes, the largemouth especially so, but have 
in some instances been introduced into cold-water lakes 
and ponds better suited to some species of trout. In 
these colder waters the basses cannot be made to yield 
so large a crop as in the warmer waters. One of the 
several reasons for this is the fact that the colder waters 
produce less bass food than do the warmer waters. 

Fortunately, there are two opportunities to improve the 
bass fishing without resorting to large annual expendi- 
tures. 

The first is by legislation for the protection of immature 
fish. The present statutory limit as to the size of bass 
which may be lawfully taken, coupled with an ever-in- 
creasing number of anglers, with new and ever increas- 
ingly destructive lures, results in keeping the number of 
mature fish reduced to a minimum. It is seldom that a 
bass is sufficietly mature to spawn when only eight inches 
long and when a female of such small size is mature she 
will produce comparatively few eggs. With the growth of 
another year her productive capacity would at least be 
trebled. It must be kept in mind that the fish crop is 
one to be harvested under certain wise restrictions, just 
as one harvests poultry or other live stock — always with 
an eye to protecting a sufficient breeding stock to main- 
tain the supply. 

49 



From the foregoing it will be seen that if the statutory 
limit on the size of bass which may be lawfully killed is 
increased, there will be a much greater increase in the 
number of fry annually produced under natural condi- 
tions. 

It is probable that if the limit is placed at ten inches, 
the resultant increase in the number of small fish will be 
all that the natural food supply upon which the minute 
fish must depend for sustenance will provide for. 

In addition to this opportunity to improve the bass fish- 
ing by legislation which will allow more fish to reach 
maturity before they spawn, the Board of Fisheries and 
Game has found a substitute for expensive pond culture 
methods which promises to be more productive and in- 
volves less expense in operation. It consists in the use 
of reservoirs of municipal water works as a source of 
supply, not only for basses but also for other desirable 
warm water fishes, notably the yellow perch, pickerel 
and bullheads. Already arrangements have been made 
with certain city oflftcials for the privilege of using nets 
in reservoirs where angling is prohibited. The privilege 
makes it possible to catch and distribute to public ponds 
and lakes fishes of all sizes from yearlings up to large 
adults. The extent to which this work can be carried on 
is dependent upon the number of reservoirs upon which 
fishing privileges are obtained and otherwise limited only 
by the amount of funds available for defraying the ex- 
pense. It is needless to say that work of this character 
will be done under strict sanitary regulations, having the 
approval of the State Department of Health. 

From the foregoing discussion the following points 
may be summarized: 

The basses are not susceptible of propagation by arti- 
ficial methods. 

It is impossbile to furnish them to applicants in numbers 
proportionate to the species artificially propagated. 

The present close season to July first is adequate legis- 
lative protection for the spawning bass. There may be 
a few cold water lakes or ponds in which the bass do not 
finish spawning until after July first. Adequate pro- 
tection should be afforded them not only during the en- 
tire period when they are on their nests but also by a 
statutory limit as to size which may be lawfully killed of 
not less than ten inches. 

Bass fry and fingerlings in quantities ordinarily sup- 
plied are adequate for stocking waters not already inhab- 
ited by the same species. 

50 



The amount of young fish annually produced varies 
with seasonal conditions, and a corresponding variation 
in the fishing from season to season may be expected. 

The annual stocking of bass-inhabited waters with the 
comparatively small number of fry or fingerlings which it 
is possible to produce by pond cultural operations amounts 
to little. The Board of Fisheries and Game cannot con- 
sistently ask the legislature to appropriate the large sum 
involved in the establishment of a pond culture station. 

As a substitute for an expensive pond culture station 
the Board of Fisheries and Game has arranged with offi- 
cials in charge of muncipal water works for the privilege 
of removing bass and other warm water fishes with a view 
to transferring them to public lakes and ponds. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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